As part of our annual Women Who Lead series, we are proud to invite you to join the Union County Women in Business to hear from local female leader Deirdre Hatcher.  You don’t want to miss this luncheon, as she shares her career journey to being named as the Special Agent in Charge of the Southern Piedmont District of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
 
Hear from and be inspired by a local community leader who is also an active member of the Union County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.  She will share the challenges and rewards she experienced in her career, as well as strategies she used to thrive in a male-dominated profession. 

Join YOUR Chamber for lunch, networking with fellow Women in Business, and be inspired by Ms. Hatcher's successful career and current life of giving back to her community.

Please help us prevent the spread of germs by opting out of this event if you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms.
Deirdre Yvette Hatcher is a native of Wilmington, NC. She graduated from John T. Hoggard High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology/Criminal Justice from North Carolina State University. She received a Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She began her career with the SBI in June 1979, attending the 11th SBI Special Agent Academy February 1980. Throughout her career, she was assigned as an field agent in the Northwestern and Southern Piedmont Districts, the D.A.R.E. program, Arson Program, and Drug Investigations. She spent much of her career working in an undercover capacity even when assigned to different positions.

In 1997, she was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge in the Southern Piedmont District where she supervised a team of ten SBI agents assigned to conduct investigations in the Mecklenburg, Union, Stanly and Anson County areas while also co-supervising, with her federal counterpart, officers and agents that comprised the Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF). The VCTF was a multi-agency task force comprised of over 35 resources from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies assigned to investigate high level, violent drug trafficking offenders.

In 2002, Ms. Hatcher was promoted to Special Agent in Charge of the Southern Piedmont District where she managed 30 agents, five Assistant Special Agents in Charge and two support staff in the Southern Piedmont District, one of the SBI’s eight geographic regions of North Carolina, by providing instruction, coaching, motivation and investigative oversight to team members as well as handling personnel matters including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, career development, performance reviews, disciplinary actions and terminations. She held this position until her retirement until March 2009.

Since retirement Ms. Hatcher has served as an Adjunct Professor at South Piedmont Community College, where she taught Court Procedure and Evidence, Criminal Investigations, Victimology and Juvenile Justice. She currently works on contract as a Special Investigator for the NC Department of Public Safety She is a volunteer with Union County Public Schools, Union County Animal Shelter and the Community Shelter of Union County to name a few of the organizations she supports. She is the proud mother of two and a member of Union County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc (affectionately known in Union County as the ladies in red).

Please note, in response to feedback from our members, changes have been made to the door prize giveaway at Business Networking Luncheons.  To give away a door prize at the Luncheon, complete the special “door prize registration” when you register for the event.  The number of door prizes to be given away will be limited on a first come, first serve basis with no more than a total of five per event.